


Cracks in the Mortar

by sigye



Category: Star Wars: The Clone Wars (2008) - All Media Types
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-09-05
Updated: 2020-09-05
Packaged: 2021-03-06 22:41:51
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,809
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26296606
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sigye/pseuds/sigye
Summary: He knows Kenobi well enough now; asking something like that would normally get him a dry, amused reply. Fox can even admit that he’s one of the most pleasant natborns he sees on a regular basis, though that’s not saying much considering the Coruscant Guard works out of the Senate building.(Prompt: Obi-Wan and Fox complaining about Senators together and supporting each other in their 'serious' selves.)
Relationships: CC-1010 | Fox & Obi-Wan Kenobi
Comments: 13
Kudos: 192
Collections: 2020 Obi-Wan Kenobi Gen Exchange





	Cracks in the Mortar

**Author's Note:**

  * For [kj_feybarn](https://archiveofourown.org/users/kj_feybarn/gifts).



> I played fast and loose with the timeline, since Geonosis 2.0 really should have been a bigger wake-up call. If only the Republic wasn't doomed from the get-go... I hope you like it!
> 
> As always, thanks to @markiafc and @mynameisnemo for bouncing ideas around!

The Galactic Senate, being the primary legislative body of the Galactic Republic, is understandably made up of thousands of beings coming from every planet from Dantooine to Ryloth. Less understandable to Commander Fox, head of the Coruscant Guard, is why, in complete defiance of that fact, every turbolift in the Senate building carries a maximum of ten humanoids.

It makes guarding certain representatives very tricky, when they bring their whole retinue of aides and aides’ aides and personal security detail and then categorically refuse to work with his men when they need to chaperone people through the building. Add that to the general contempt far too many in the Republic have for the clones and it becomes clear why, despite being thought of as an easy posting, so many in the GAR are fervently grateful they weren’t tapped for the Guard.

Not all who come through the Senate complex are politicians but the others are few and far between, since most of the public areas are closed to tourists now. The Jedi occupy a unique place in that hierarchy, formerly peacekeepers and now leading the might of the Republic’s army across the galaxy. In fact, the first time Fox sees Obi-Wan Kenobi in person is outside Chancellor Palpatine’s office, shortly after a debriefing after Kothlis.

It’s one of the meetings Fox stands in on, and it’s early enough in the war that it still surprises him when every Jedi who enters the office looks over to him and nods, acknowledging his presence. More surprising still is when they all file out and, headed to the speederbay on the same level as his office, wait for the turbolift to arrive. He's standing apart from them, not wanting to look like he's hounding them, so he doesn't realize at first why Kenobi's suddenly standing in front of him.

“After you, Commander,” the Jedi says lightly, indicating the turbolift's open door. It's the most unexpected thing that's happened to Fox since the new head of the Malastarian delegation handed him their child shortly before entering the Senate chamber for a series of votes, expecting him to babysit. (How he was supposed to do that and keep the man safe from the many, many death threats he'd received in the scant week since he'd been appointed, Fox doesn't know.)

The turbolift starts to shut its door before Fox quickly steps forward and enters, swearing in his head at protocol-defying Jedi. He has the strangest feeling that Kenobi knows what he's thinking, judging by the slight smile now on his face, and isn't that the telepathy thing the Jedi do? He hasn't spent much time around any of them, but he's heard from other troopers that it's the strangest damned thing in action.

Kenobi doesn't say anything else until they both exit the turbolift, and then he just nods and says, "Until next time, Commander." Fox has no idea what to make of it.

ㅎㅎㅎ

The next time Fox speaks to Kenobi is decidedly different. He's outside Bail Organa's private office, waiting for the senator's assistant to relay his message and let him in. As member of the Security Committee, Organa is often the one Fox chooses to meet with. He's straightforward, devoted to the Republic, and doesn't throw his authority around even when dealing with clones. As far as politicians go, Fox doesn't mind him. And better he be the one to brief his fellow representatives, since Fox simply isn't willing unless there's an urgent, dire threat.

He hears Organa say, "Thanks, Minala, you can send him in," and nods to the woman as she lets him through, but he stops short in the doorway. Organa's standing by the window, putting datapads into a bag and laughing. "I'm just saying, Obi-Wan, if you think _Padme's_ the more subtle one, I'd hate to see what you have to put up with every day."

And indeed it is Obi-Wan Kenobi, seated in one of the visitors' chairs with his head down on the senator's desk, talking over Organa and saying, "No, Bail, I'm _not_ discussing it with you this time either, I don't _care_ how many meals you want to bribe me with." He lifts his head up when he hears Fox step inside and close the door, smiling over at him. "Commander Fox, it's good to see you again."

And before Fox can say anything to that, he continues, sitting up more properly. "Don't worry, Commander, I'm not officially here. That is, I'm not here on business. The good senator's just getting me caught up to speed on his colleagues' latest machinations. It would never do to be out of the loop."

Considering the tail end of what Fox had just heard, it sounded more like the gossip traded between the 501st and the 212th than actual political information. Cody's good for keeping him abreast of some developments, though in this particular case Fox sees far more than he wants to in the Senate building itself. But the matter he's here about really is important, so he sets those thoughts aside.

"Senator, I'm here about the new junior senator from Devaron." Organa nods for him to continue, and it's not like Kenobi doesn't have the clearance, being on the Council, so Fox goes along with it. "Turns out the one communicating with the Separatists is the senator himself, not one of his aides."

Organa, who'd stopped packing his bag the moment he'd heard 'Devaron', sighs and immediately starts unpacking it again. "Really? The senator again? You'd think they'd try something else this time, considering we caught his predecessor two weeks after he was appointed."

Looking thoughtful, Kenobi replies, "There are probably worse 'traditions' than incompetent espionage a planet's representatives could uphold. For example, two of the last high-profile senatorial assassinations were both of senators from Malastare, and in fact one was the successor of the other." And that remark, delivered in an almost-deadpan, actually pulls a laugh out of Fox.

"So it's not just my bad luck to be stuck guarding the one Malastarian half the people on Coruscant want to kill?"

And Fox hadn't meant to say that out loud, but it's been a very long ten-day and he can't quite bring himself to regret it at the spark of amusement that lights up Kenobi's face. He opens his mouth to reply, but then his comlink chirps and he sighs instead, checking the message on it.

Organa answers instead, shaking his head wryly. "It certainly is not. Obi-Wan, I'll catch up with you another time. Commander, I assume we're going straight into a briefing?" Fox loves when he gets to work with the competent ones.

Kenobi stands up, nodding. "I am as well, though I'm not sure it's about the same incident. Good luck to the both of you," he says, clapping a hand to Fox's shoulder before walking out the door. Once again, Fox has no idea what to think, so he shelves the situation for later. After the briefing, he thinks about it again.

Kenobi’s a good man. Organa, that too-rare combination of good man and good politician, obviously thinks so. For all that it’s like prying Jawas off a junked speeder to get Cody to talk sometimes, he almost always has good things to say about his general. (Well, good and frustrated. Cody says the man’s more stubborn than Jango ever was, and though the 212th’s commander and general rarely butt heads, the times they do are infamous.)

Still, Fox resolves to stay professional with him. No matter what they all say Kenobi’s still a Jedi, not one of his men, and for all that Fox doesn’t answer to anyone but the chancellor, that gives him pause.

Until Cad Bane breaks in and holds a number of prominent senators hostage, in exchange for the Republic’s most histrionic prisoner’s release. Kenobi stops by even before he’s assigned to track Ziro down, finds Fox in the spare office he uses on the seventh level when too many senators are looking for a red-armored target to vent at, and asks Fox what he can do to help.

For a moment, Fox is speechless. Then he realizes that even the angry representatives crowding outside his office would balk at shouting at a Jedi, and Kenobi laughs before agreeing to escort him back.

After that, Fox is...a bit more familiar with him. Kenobi clearly encourages it, and it’s hard to stay aloof and annoyed when Kenobi’s plainly as exasperated with Quinlan Vos as he is. Fox feels vindicated beyond belief, as he’s somehow always been the officer on duty when Vos gets picked up as one of his undercover stints, and none of the other commanders believe him when he tries to explain just how aggravating the man tries to be.

Kenobi, who Vos cheerfully says has been putting up with him since the pair were teenagers, looks at Fox with sympathy in his gaze even as he elbows his friend in the ribs, hard. Vos grunts before subsiding, pulling his arm back from Kenobi’s shoulders and getting down to business like a switch had been flipped.

“It doesn’t look good, Cad Bane getting in so cleanly,” Vos starts, and Fox starts to bristle.

Before he can say anything, though, Kenobi cuts in and says, “Yes, and it doesn’t bode well for us tracking down his contacts either. Clearly he had someone on the inside.” Fox finds himself deflating, tired defensive anger gone. It’s good to have someone backing him up, Fox realizes.

And Kenobi _does_ have his back, he realizes later. It’s become a regular occurrence, running into Kenobi when the 212th’s back on Coruscant.

It’s refreshing, having a sharp mind to bounce ideas off of when he’s trying to politely deny a Mon Cal representative’s request to renovate an entire floor to simulate being underwater, or when he’s investigating a senator’s death to find out if it was related to the numerous threats they’d gotten rather than simply because they’d left their guards behind to make a deal with a bounty hunter on the lower levels. Fox doesn’t know anyone else who would break off from explaining why the Senate Guard is stonewalling him to give a complete history of Judicial and the ongoing battle of jurisdiction it wages with the Jedi and now his Guard too.

Is this what the other commanders mean, when they talk about their generals?

Maybe Cody’s got a point after all.

ㅎㅎㅎ

Fox frowns as he looks at his datapad, checking his schedule for the next few hours. He flicks away an irate message from the aide of a senator he was supposed to be meeting with now, but a new appointment is in that slot now, taking up the next hour of his time.

He swears under his breath when he sees who made it, reading the designation at the same time he starts hearing voices approaching his office’s door.

“...tiple broken ribs, a _spinal fracture_ …” Fox’s eyebrow twitches up a hair. He thinks he has a pretty good idea what’s got his batchmate so upset. After all, everyone knows where the 212th just got back from.

Cody’s voice, furiously resigned, floats through the door again. “You nearly died out there, sir,” he reminds, clipped and tight.

“Too many others _did_ die back there,” comes the answer, hard and unforgiving as durasteel, and in his mind’s eye Fox can picture the larger-than-life general he sees on the Holonet, not the smooth-talking charming diplomat he usually sees in his office. This is the man who survived the bloodbath that was Geonosis the first time around, the man who leads his men into battle from the front lines, not the polished, well-spoken version of him who testified before the Senate about how he had found them in the first place.

Reality doesn’t live up to either ideal, when the office door finally opens.

Clearly they’ve had time to freshen up before meeting with the chancellor; there isn’t a hint of dust to mark the time they spent on Geonosis. Unfortunately, that just makes the half-healed cuts on Kenobi’s face stand out in painful contrast and considering the way he staggers in, Fox would put credits on him not being able to stand without discomfort.

Idly he wonders if the chancellor had offered them chairs. Most meetings he’s stood in on have everyone on their feet, but surely it would be different with the general walking wounded.

Cody fixes his general in place with a blistering glare. “I’m going to get Thire. Stay here and _sit down_ , or I’ll tell Skywalker you were the one who sent his astromech to Fleet Maintenance for upgrades.”

Fox catches his eye as he moves to leave but Cody just shakes his head and walks out, no explanation for why he’s getting another one of their batchmates on his off-duty rotation. For what’s so important that he and his general have come to _him_ instead of going back to the medbay, or for why they need backup at all let alone another commander from the Guard.

Eyeing the Jedi standing stiffly in front of his desk, Fox asks, “Was it as bad as the rumors say?” He hasn’t had a chance to look over those reports yet, too busy coordinating the security for one of the chancellor’s upcoming addresses to the public.

He knows Kenobi well enough now; asking something like that would normally get him a dry, amused reply. Fox can even admit that he’s one of the most pleasant natborns he sees on a regular basis, though that’s not saying much considering the Coruscant Guard works out of the Senate building.

There are no smiles today. Kenobi says, “Worse,” and then adds in carefully-enunciated understatement, “Cody’s — we’re — upset about that.” A flash of grim humor lights his eyes then. “Cody’s also unhappy he can’t threaten to bodily haul me to Medical this time. It’d be too much stress on my spine.”

Remembering Cody’s growled command, Fox offers him a chair.

Kenobi sits down gingerly, face carefully blank as his hands briefly tighten on the armrests, and that’s when Fox notices he’s only got the vambraces on, Open Circle insignia stark against the battered white. Right. Chest plate must also be too much weight for a recently-broken back.

“Thank you.” Kenobi is nothing if not unfailingly polite. Fox wonders exactly how many planets would need to burn before he abandoned courtesy. “Now forgive me, Commander, but before we begin...when was the last time you did a sweep of your office?”

Fox stares. Because that sounds like Kenobi's implying his office isn't secure, that there's a chance the Seps have infiltrated this far.

"Fox. I wouldn't ask if it wasn't important. But we need you to make sure nobody overhears us and that nobody knows this meeting happened."

He has to ask. “Why?” Why come to him of all people with an off-the-record request like this? What even _is_ the request?

“Because when we got shot down, dozens of men died before they could set foot on that Force-damned planet. Sixty percent casualties across all our battalions. It was a massacre — because _they knew exactly where we would be_.

“They knew we were coming. I need to know how.”

Kenobi’s gaze never leaves his, so intense that it burns through Fox’s weary cynicism and wakes a burgeoning, powerful dismay. This means either sabotage or espionage, and neither option stops the unease churning in his gut. He knows the meeting Kenobi's talking about, though he wasn't present for it. Not many were. It narrows the list of suspects significantly, and Fox is beginning to understand why they've come to him.

The Supreme Chancellor's office is the only one with the requisite long-distance comm capabilities and necessary security clearance to hold a pre-battle briefing.

"Fox. This isn't the first time highly-sensitive information has been leaked, at great cost to the Republic." The sincerity in his voice is painful to listen to. "And while we don't yet have proof it is coming from the chancellor's office, it fits a pattern that the Council has been tracking for some time now. Will you help us investigate?"

Behind him, Cody's finally returned with Thire in tow, both of them quiet in the aftermath of this solemn request. Waiting to see which way he'll jump.

And Fox thinks about it, but by now it's really no choice at all. He may report to the Supreme Chancellor, but he's loyal to the Republic. Chancellors can come and go, though he hasn't seen it happen yet. It's much harder to contemplate the idea of the galaxy without the Republic, and to wonder where he would fit in there. So yes, Fox knows what he's going to do.

He meets Kenobi's gaze and nods once, decisively. "Where do we begin?"


End file.
